Kings getting ready to line up

The Sacramento Kings, like all NBA teams, are attempting to finalize their training camp roster.

According to Kings President Geoff Petrie, the Kings have 18 commitments for the start of camp Sept. 28, preceded one day earlier by media day.

"We have 18 committed and we may add one or two more before camp starts," Petrie said Tuesday afternoon. "We're still two weeks away and there's always the possibility that someone could go to Europe or elsewhere."

Elsewhere has become a major option for players over the past 15-20 years. Back in the day, there weren't options of going to play all over the world.

Now, it's nothing for a player to take guaranteed money in Italy or Lithuania or Japan or China or Australia over the non-guaranteed opportunity to make an NBA team.

So far, the Kings expect the usual suspects - Tyreke Evans, Beno Udrih, Francisco Garcia, Samuel Dalembert, DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Hasaan Whiteside, Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Donte Greene, Pooh Jeter and Antoine Wright.

Then there are the hopefuls - Darnell Jackson, Donald Sloan, Luther Head, Joe Crawford, J.R. Giddens and Connor Atchley.

Any of the hopefuls could be swayed by guaranteed loot elsewhere. However, Head, Crawford and Giddens likely will see openings with the Kings for anyone who consistently can make perimeter shots.

Petrie estimates, "close to 30 percent of the league's players are from other countries."

That's an amazing change from 25 years ago when the number of NBA international players was in single-digits.

Bush to surrender his 2005 Heisman Trophy

New Orleans Saints and former USC running back Reggie Bush is taking a hit for a whole lot of people.

Bush announced Tuesday he will return the 2005 Heisman Trophy he won following reports he and his family received hundreds of thousands of improper benefits while playing at USC.

Bush's family reportedly lived rent-free in a home and received substantial cash gifts from two different agent groups positioning themselves to represent him in the NFL.

Bush, 25, was 20 years old in 2005. Since he's opted to return the Trophy, in my eyes, he's admitted wrongdoing of some extent.

However, clearly the adults (i.e., parents, any advisers, agents Mike Ornstein, Michael Michaels and Lloyd Lake) also were at fault in a major way and were at least as responsible for the chicanery.

I'd love to hear from Bush's parents about what they did. I'd love for Ornstein, Michaels and Lake to come clean about their parts in the entire deal.

Plane tickets, free hotel stays and cash would seem highly difficult to bypass, especially for a 20-year-old.

In a related thought, I'd still have the Trophy if I was Reggie. Five years later, they are coming to get it? C'mon now.

Just a thought. Had Reggie Bush been in a car accident and died, would the Heisman folk still have wanted their Trophy returned? As my son and sister say, I'm just saying.

Five years? Come now. What's up with that?

The Barry Bonds trial should be something special at this rate.